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SG London's super-prime homes luring various nationalities

Property Here - Friday, July 05, 2013

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Super-prime homes in London, or properties priced above £10 million (S$19 million), have seen strong demand from both local and international buyers, with 33 different nationalities buying up luxury homes in central London since 2009.

However, “there is a common misconception that the super-prime market is saturated with overseas buyers”, noted Richard Cutt and Tim Wright, who run the prime residential team at Knight Frank.

“In fact nearly a third of all super-prime properties have been purchased by UK buyers since the start of 2012. Russian buyers, the next most active purchasers, had a market share of 21 percent over the same period, followed by Europeans who accounted for 15 percent of all £10 million+ (S$19 million+) sales.”

Nevertheless, interest among foreign buyers for London’s luxury homes has not diminished. Notably, “many of the world’s wealthy view the super-prime property market in London as a safe haven, appreciating its stability, as well as its ability to deliver capital growth, compared with other more volatile markets which have not weathered the crisis so successfully”.

The weak sterling also contributed to making London property more appealing to foreign buyers.